We're seeking an experienced Lead Principal Engineer to provide technical leadership on a major Federal Government technology transformation program. This is an exciting opportunity to shape enterprise architecture, influence engineering decisions, and drive the adoption of modern cloud and AI capabilities across large-scale platforms.

Key Responsibilities
Provide technical leadership and architectural direction for cloud-native, microservices-based and AI-enabled platforms
Lead the adoption of AI-enabled Software Development Lifecycle (AI SDLC) practices
Drive up-to-date engineering practices including DevSecOps, CI/CD, automated testing, observability and platform engineering
Lead enterprise technology modernisation, including containerisation, reusable architecture patterns and enterprise integration
Establish engineering governance, standards and capability uplift across multidisciplinary teams
Mentor engineers and ensure knowledge transfer to support long-term organisational capability
Extensive experience designing and delivering cloud-native, microservices and event-driven architectures within complex enterprise environments
Strong experience in AI engineering , including enterprise AI solutions, semantic search,



machine learning and responsible AI practices
Deep expertise across modern software engineering including:
DevSecOps
CI/CD
Security by Design
Automated Testing
Observability
Proven success leading large-scale technology transformation initiatives and influencing enterprise architecture decisions
Outstanding stakeholder engagement and leadership skills, with experience working alongside senior executives, delivery partners and multidisciplinary teams

Highly Desirable
Kubernetes, OpenShift, AKS, EKS or GKE
Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)
Observability tooling
Agile leadership and coaching geographically dispersed teams

Location: Canberra (Hybrid with flexible working arrangements)

Occasional interstate travel may be required

Start: October 2026

Contract: 12 months + 2 x 12-month extension options

Security Clearance: Baseline

This is an outstanding chance for a senior technology leader passionate about AI, cloud engineering, enterprise architecture and contemporary software delivery to make a significant impact within a large-scale Federal Government transformation program.
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📌 Lead Principal Architect Cloud, Ai & Platform Engineering Canberra (Australia)
🏢 Saltus Group
📍 Australia